Boat ventilator



' Jan. 30, 1968 D. w. BECK 3,366,028

BOAT VENTILATOR Filed June 27, 1966' SlQX/a FIG. 7

l i 5 mumm INVENTOR. DAN/AD W. 866% Arromvanf United States Patent 3,366,028 BOAT VENTILATOR David W. Beck, 4701 Petaluma Ave., Lakewood, Calif. 90713 Filed June 27, 1966, Ser. No. 560,489 4 Claims. (Cl. 9837) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A boat ventilator having a forwardly facing head member at its upper end for receiving air, and mounting means at it lower end for attachment to a boat deck. Bailies in the ventilator permit free flow of air but trap Water for drainage to the exterior via apertures in the ventilator.

The present invention relates generally to boating and more particularly to a new and novel self-contained, water-deflecting ventilator to be mounted upon a boat deck.

It is a major object of the present invention to provide a boat ventilator which will efliciently admit air to the confines of a boat but will effectively exclude water therefrom.

. Another object of the present invention-is to provide a boat ventilator of the aforedescribed nature which is formed of a flexible synthetic plastic material whereby it will readily undergo temporary deformation when inadvertently contacted by an object such as a line or a crewman.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a boat ventilator of the aforeclescribed nature which may be readily temporarily removed from its normal operative position so as to clear the deck upon which it is mounted.

An additional object of the present invention is to provide a boat ventilator of the aforedesc-ribed nature which is economical of manufacture.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a boat ventilator of the aforedescribed nature which is simple of design and rugged of construction whereby it may afford a long and trouble-free service life.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description, when taken in conjunction with the appended drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view showing a boat provided with a preferred form of ventilator embodying the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view in enlarged scale of said ventilator;

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a reduced rear elevational view of said ventilator;

FIG. 5 is a broken front elevational view of another form of ventilator embodying the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a vertical sectional view showing how a plug may be temporarily substituted for said ventilator.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown in FIG. 1 a conventional boat B having a deck 10 upon which are mounted two ventilators V embodying the present invention. Each ventilator may be considered of like construction.

The details of construction of each ventilator V are shown particularly in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. As indicated in these figures, the ventilator V includes a scoop member, generally designated 12, of integral construction. The lower part of the scoop member 12 includes an upright tubular neck 16. The upper part of neck 16 smoothly merges "ice into a forwardly-facing head 18. The head 18 is larger than the neck 16, and its front end is formed with a generally elliptical, forwardly-facing opening 20. The lower front and sides of head 18 flare inwardly and downwardly, as indicated at 22, to merge into the upper part of neck 16, while the rear portion of head 18 curves upwardly and rearward'ly relative to neck 16.

Disposed within the conifines of head 18 is an upper bafiie 24. The upper baflie 24 extends upwardly and rearwardly from the lower edge of head opening 20 to terminate rearwardly of the vertical cen-terline of the neck 16 as viewed from the side in FIG. 3. The upper baffle 24 extends'across the width of the interior of the head 18. A lower baffle 26 extends upwardly and forwardly from the rear lower edge of head 18 to a point in general alignment with the vertical centerline of the base 14 and neck 1-6, as viewed from the side in FIG. 3. The rear of head 18 is formed with one or more drain holes 28 immediately above and to the rear of the lower end of the lower bafiie 26.

Preferably, the open crosssectional area A between the rear edge of the upper baffle 24 and the front edge of lower :b-aflle 26 will be approximately equal to the open, horizontal cross-sectional area N of neck 16.

The lower end of the neck 16 is rigidly affixed to a mounting collar 30, the lower portion of which is externally threaded, as indicated at 32. The mounting collar 30 is adapted to be removably threaded into a complementary flanged sleeve fitting 34 having external threads 36. Sleeve fitting 34 is secured to boat deck 10 by bolt and nut combinations 38.

Preferably, the scoop member 12 will be formed of a synthetic plastic material that is both resilient and capable of withstanding prolonged exposure to the elements. A suitable material for this purpose is polyvinyl chloride. The mounting collar 30 is preferably formed of a suitable noncorrosive metal, such as brass, although a material such as synthetic plastic may alternatively be utilized. The mounting collar 30 is preferably bonded within the lower portion of the neck 16. The sleeve fitting 14 may be formed of the same material as mounting collar 30.

In the use of the aforedescribed ventilator, the mounting collar 30 will be threaded into the sleeve fitting 34. It should be noted that this arrangement permits the scoop member 12 to be swiveled into a desired position with respect to the boat deck 10, i.e., the scoop member 12 may be arranged with the head opening 20 facing forwardly, rearwardly, or any angle therebetween with respect to the boat B.

The upper and lower baflles 24 and 26 will permit air to flow freely through the scoop member 12 since the areas A and N are generally equal. Should any water enter head opening 20, however, the overlapping arrangement of the upper edge of upper bafile 24 with respect to the upper edge of lower baffle 26 will prevent such water from entering the neck 16. Instead, such water will drop off the upper end of upper baffle 24 and flow downwardly onto the upper surface of the lower baffle 26, such water then flowing out of the drain holes 28-.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it will be observed that because of the resilient nature of the synthetic plastic material from which the scoop member 12 is formed, if a line 40 or the like should contact such scoop member, the line will readily temporarily deform the scoop member thereby avoiding damage thereto. If a crew member should inadvertently contact the ventilator V, the material of the scoop member 12 would again deform thereby preventing injury to such crew member.

Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown a second form of ventilator V embodying the present invention. This second form of ventilator V' is seen to be generally similar in construction to the aforedescribed ventilator V with the exception that the head opening 20 is of a width greater than its depth. Additionally, the lower bafile 26 is straight rather than being curved as in the case of lower baffle 26 of ventilator V.

Referring now to FIG. 7, should it become desirable to temporarily clear the deck 10, the ventilator V or V may be readily unscrewed from sleeve fitting 34. Thereafter, an externally-threaded plug 50 is screwed into the sleeve fitting 34 so as to close the hole defined thereby. Generally, the ventilator Will be removed when there is danger that the boat might capsize or it is desired to race the boat.

It should be particularly noted that the vertical spacing above deck of the opening 20 of the aforedescribed ventilator insures a free flow of air therethrough. This would not be true if such opening was placed close to the boat deck. Despite such free air flow through the ventilator, water is restrained from passing downwardly through the ventilator. Preferably, the lower edge of opening 2-!) will be spaced above deck 10 a vertical distance at least substantially equal to the vertical height of said opening.

Various modifications and changes may be made with respect to the foregoing detailed description without departing from the spirit of the present invention or the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A self-contained waterdeflecting ventilator for mounting on a boat deck, comprising:

a scoop member having an upstanding tubular neck the upper part of which smoothly merges into a head larger than said neck, the front end of said head being formed with a forwardly-facing opening;

a single upper baffle disposed within said head and extending upwardly and rearwardly from the lower edge of said opening to a point rearwardly of the vertical centerline of said neck; single lower baffle disposed within said head below said upper baflle and extending upwardly and forwardly from the rear lower edge of said head, and the upper part of said neck, to a point forwardly of the rear end of said upper bafile, with the open crosssectional area between the rear edge of said upper :bafile and the front edge of said lower bafile being approximately equal to the open horizontal crosssectional area of said neck;

drain hole means formed in said head immediately above the lower end of said lower baflle and to the rear of said lower battle; and

mounting means on the lower end of said neck for attaching said ventilator to said deck.

2. A ventilator as set forth in claim 1 wherein said scoop member is formed of a resilient synthetic plastic material.

3. A ventilator as set forth in claim 1 wherein said mounting means includes an externally-threaded collar removably screwed into an internally-threaded sleeve fitting adapted to be secured to said deck.

4. A ventilator as set forth in claim 1 wherein the lower edge of said forwardly facing opening is vertically spaced above said mounting means a distance at least substantially equal to the vertical height of said opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,550,554 8/1925 Malzard 98-64 1,962,783 6/1934 Mitchell 98-64 3,112,687 12/1963 Henneberger 9837 FOREIGN PATENTS 69,438 7/1945 Norway.

MEYER PERLIN, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT A. OLEARY, Examiner.

\V. E. WAYNER, Assistant Examiner. 

